Jerrycup

[quote postid="5189069" user="mase123987"]I Macs do have less virus attacks than PC's. It is mainly for one reason: marketshare. Why go after a small fish when Windows is used on most computers in the world including most businesses. As far as what anti-virus to get for Mac, I have no clue"

Stuff about the number of hackers and market share is silly.

Right, you have no clue. Often repeated, untrue. You do not need any antivirus for a Mac.

If you don't install anything that is a virus (like "Mac Defender") you can fearlessly run virus free, and you need no "protection".

Jomosan

I would recommend this deal to anyone who is currently looking to buy a tablet as their at home computer. I know I have a few friends that say they have no use for a laptop or desktop, but they think they could get good mileage out of an iPad or other tablet. In my opinion, buying one of these will always be a better deal.

For what you'd use a tablet for, this should do better.

As for storage and ram, it's definitely not ideal for most people. I'd agree it should have 4gb for sure. The storage solution could be somewhat remedied by having a USB based external hard drive. They can be had pretty cheaply, and depending on the model you choose, they can be extremely slim and portable too.

Anyhow, as I said, it may not be ideal for everyone. If you're in the crowd that doesn't own a computer, and you were thinking about getting a tablet however, this might just exceed expectation.

Jerrycup

Right. My favorite toy of all time. Pure fun to use, but there are some compromises. It's not a gaming computer, or a CAD station, but most of what I do is non-serious.

I suggest it is a very durable, small, and handy computer. Dismissing it because of the SSD hard drive is a bit shallow. You can connect a terabyte hard drive to your WiFi router, access it easily to keep your archive and backup. For the files you need to be portable, 64 GB is not trivial.

"iCloud" and other cloud based services are the wave of the future. Having a huge spinning hard drive on a laptop seems wrong to me. Bigger, yes, also prone to failure, uses more power, and slower to access.

This MBA is like an pad computer with a nice keyboard, and it is beautifully made, milled from a slab of aluminum.

Bought mine last November after helping set up a new one for my neighbor, who had a Toshiba laptop that was garbaged up with virus, and could not reliably stay connected to her Verizon WiFi router. Every time it went to "sleep" it took minutes to come back.

She was instantly happy with the MacBook Air, and I decided it was time to replace my 6 year old (perfectly working) MacBook.

mase123987

Jerrycup wrote:[quote postid="5189069" user="mase123987"]I Macs do have less virus attacks than PC's. It is mainly for one reason: marketshare. Why go after a small fish when Windows is used on most computers in the world including most businesses. As far as what anti-virus to get for Mac, I have no clue"

Stuff about the number of hackers and market share is silly.

Right, you have no clue. Often repeated, untrue. You do not need any antivirus for a Mac.

If you don't install anything that is a virus (like "Mac Defender") you can fearlessly run virus free, and you need no "protection".

And you say I don't know what I am talking about? Here is ONE recent Mac virus just to prove you wrong:

To say that Macs don't need any protection is being a disservice to the Woot community. They are less prone for numerous reasons, one being the one I mentioned, but that doesn't mean they are virus/malware/spyware free.

To say that Macs don't need any protection is being a disservice to the Woot community. They are less prone for numerous reasons, one being the one I mentioned, but that doesn't mean they are virus/malware/spyware free.

Years of owning and using many Macs, my family members, and others I know well and trust tell me different. I am convinced and repeat, you do NOT need virus "protection" if you are running MacOS. The "reason" you assert is hoodoo.

mase123987

Jerrycup wrote:Years of owning and using many Macs, my family members, and others I know well and trust tell me different. I am convinced and repeat, you do NOT need virus "protection" if you are running MacOS. The "reason" you assert is hoodoo.

People eat food their entire lives yet many are still fat and can't put together a nutritious meal. Point being, doing/using something for a long time doesn't equate to knowledge.

I hope that no Mac users ever have any type of protection based on your suggestion. It will be funny to watch a virus spread like wildfire then.

eyric101

sgpigeon

sainted wrote:I'm a long time Mac user, but also very familiar with Windows. Mac's are easier to use and substantially more reliable (both hardware and software).

What's really going to blow you away when you start using a Mac is the integration with your iPhone. You add a new contact on your phone, it shows up instantly on your Mac. You upload pictures from a digital camera to your Mac, and they show up a few minutes later on your iPhone. Put a new item on your calendar on you iPad, it will show up on your Mac and your iPhone.

It's so easy its like magic.

Get a Mac. You won't regret it.

Welcome to google 4+ years ago.
Just so those of you who question weather or not the pc/android combination is better, this all can be done with no proprietry BS through IE/Chrome/Firefox via a google account.

nobgobblin69

irqzero wrote:Can't argue with this, looks like you can get it for around the same price, and more ram is usually better.

In other news, and in all seriousness, is there no one from the UK who uses Woot? How come no one is giggling uncontrollably about the nickname 'nobgoblin'? I mean, I damn near pee'd myself when I saw that.

jgreg0ry

For what it's worth, I had some severe Finder crashes on my iMac with Lion (coulda been other apps, but other people have had similar problems), and installing Mountain Lion fixed them.

That said, if you use the flexible snooze function in iCal, they took it away in ML. Plenty of folks are hoping they bring it back, but it didn't happen in 10.8.2 Maybe a minor point, but irritating nonetheless.

jgreg0ry

Jomosan wrote:I would recommend this deal to anyone who is currently looking to buy a tablet as their at home computer. I know I have a few friends that say they have no use for a laptop or desktop, but they think they could get good mileage out of an iPad or other tablet. In my opinion, buying one of these will always be a better deal.

For what you'd use a tablet for, this should do better.

As for storage and ram, it's definitely not ideal for most people. I'd agree it should have 4gb for sure. The storage solution could be somewhat remedied by having a USB based external hard drive. They can be had pretty cheaply, and depending on the model you choose, they can be extremely slim and portable too.

Anyhow, as I said, it may not be ideal for everyone. If you're in the crowd that doesn't own a computer, and you were thinking about getting a tablet however, this might just exceed expectation.

I'm thinking it also might make a good supplemental travel device to my iMac; I scoped out tablets and am unhappy with the functions available for serious computing.

nobgobblin69

In seriousness, kinda, a huge thank you to all of you that contributed to my questions today! It didn't fall on deaf ears.
I'm determined to get a Mac now. The biggest help were the responses that said go play on some for half hour/hour. That makes tons of sense and I wish I had thought of it on my own! So that is what I'll do. Try some out! Sadly I don't know anyone personally that owns a Mac. Therefore, I had to open myself up to you, the Woot Community! You guys are THE best! In amongst the snarkasm there are jewels of knowlege. People who take the time to answer technotards like myself.
You've all come through for me time and again! I enjoy the knowlege sharing, funny postings and snarks! I often read the comment section on things I have no interest in buying simply to see your wit!
THANK YOU ALL! <3

Ringo4422

nobgobblin69 wrote:In seriousness, kinda, a huge thank you to all of you that contributed to my questions today! It didn't fall on deaf ears.
I'm determined to get a Mac now. The biggest help were the responses that said go play on some for half hour/hour. That makes tons of sense and I wish I had thought of it on my own! So that is what I'll do. Try some out! Sadly I don't know anyone personally that owns a Mac. Therefore, I had to open myself up to you, the Woot Community! You guys are THE best! In amongst the snarkasm there are jewels of knowlege. People who take the time to answer technotards like myself.
You've all come through for me time and again! I enjoy the knowlege sharing, funny postings and snarks! I often read the comment section on things I have no interest in buying simply to see your wit!
THANK YOU ALL! <3

Spend $760 for a PC netbook (if you can find one at that cost) and it will run circles around this, in both performance features.
This a way over priced status symbol.

sparrowflies

chaosamoeba

mase123987 wrote:Windows 7 doesn't crash often or more than Mac. It is a great OS. Generally people mess up their computers by not paying attention to what websites they go to and what software they download. Also, some people go with low quality (or plain crappy) brands/models or PC's and then blame Windows/Microsoft for what are really hardware related issues. Do a little reading before buying.

Macs do have less virus attacks than PC's. It is mainly for one reason: marketshare. Why go after a small fish when Windows is used on most computers in the world including most businesses. As far as what anti-virus to get for Mac, I have no clue.

While I'm a PC user myself, I don't think you should entirely dismiss Apple's ability to protect against user error (downloading malware, controlling their hardware ecosystem). Apple has, for the longest time, been very UI-focused. If it is safer only because of it's lower market share, it still means that it's safer and there are plenty of users who I wouldn't trust to maintain their PC but I would trust to operate a Mac.

As an aside: good on you for being another Lenovo user. I'm a bit of a Thinkpad diehard, because I value things that most laptop buyers don't really consider: a solid keyboard and good durability. I'm tapping this out on a Carbon X1, which I was able to snag this for lower than list for the current 13" MBA, although that deal probably won't come again for a while.

skispeakeasy

Apple is not that expensive if you take into account their customer service and system stability.

Think about it. Apple equips their products with tried tried and tested hardware components that are one cycle older than PC hardware. These components are cheaper to source and more reliable. They combine these components with system software that is vastly more efficient that Windows and Linux, wrap it up in a well designed case and offer fast efficient customer service for 4 years. Customer service costs $99 and means that you do not need to spend a dime on broken hardware or software failures for 4 years!

If you think about it that way, buying a mac makes a lot of sense for people who are not technically inclined or don't want to deal with repairing hardware at all.

jmfremen

mase123987 wrote:I am going to start off saying that I am not a huge fan of OSX and most Apple products. That said, I am going to try and be as helpful as possible still.

People are right in saying that having an SSD will definitely help with the fact it has only 2gb of RAM; and help it needs. My dad has a mac mini with a platter drive and 2gb of RAM and that thing is slow as can be (i3 processor I believe.) Any modern computer (MAC,PC, Linux, whatever) that is intended for a main computer, really needs to have 4gb of RAM. Also, with only having 2gb, the use of a swap file becomes quite necessary. This is not a good thing considering it will prematurely wear it down (though how fast depends on the drive used). Also, with only 64GB SSD, using any of it for anything besides storage is crazy.

64GB SSD doesn't mean much to a non-computer person. Let me put it this way though. If you like to store tons of pictures of children or grandchildren, store music or movies or use lots of different software, you will run out of space very quickly. Upgrading it will be a must to most people at some point.

Also, as some others have said, 11.6" is really pretty small. It isn't very good people who want to use it for long periods of time. Also wouldn't be great for older people with any sort of vision issues.

Those are my three biggest gripes about this computer. I understand people are willing to pay a premium to have a Mac for their ecosystem. But, their comes a point where price just doesn't equal value. Unless you are getting this strictly for the weight factor, you can get so much more for the same price going with a PC. Currently Lenovo laptop I am writing this on cost the same amount of money a year and a half ago. Without getting into specs that lot of WOOT users wouldn't understand (based on comments), my laptop can run circles around this Macbook. I can boot into Windows, have the latest OSX running in VMWare and play a high-end game at the same time. Point is, for what most people would be using this Macbook for, you can buy a much cheaper PC that will do the exactly same things, just as well and just as easily.

Unless you are deeply tied-in to the Apple ecosystem already, it really is hard to recommend spending this much money on that hardware.

For a few comments about PC's and Windows I have read on here:

Windows 7 doesn't crash often or more than Mac. It is a great OS. Generally people mess up their computers by not paying attention to what websites they go to and what software they download. Also, some people go with low quality (or plain crappy) brands/models or PC's and then blame Windows/Microsoft for what are really hardware related issues. Do a little reading before buying.

Macs do have less virus attacks than PC's. It is mainly for one reason: marketshare. Why go after a small fish when Windows is used on most computers in the world including most businesses. As far as what anti-virus to get for Mac, I have no clue.

EDIT - I just realized this didn't have an HDMI port or a vga port. That means you would need to keep an adapter around to plug it in to most monitors or tv's.

I am assuming that you have never owned a Mac before. If you had this commentary on the downsides of Apple would seem as ridiculous to you as they do to me. And you don't have to talk down to Wooters.. we are a savvy lot. We understand solid state devices as well you, if not better. You might want to check your facts first anyway. This system is designed perfectly for what it was intended for. No one who is going to buy this wants to play MMO's, or run windows OS on it.

mrjoewood

Everything you need to know about this deal has already been said in the comments, but just to add weight to the sides I feel are more correct:

(1) This is not a netbook - yes, the 2GB of RAM is anemic and not suitable for my needs, and 64GB of SSD is marginal, but it is much faster with a much, much better screen and better output options (albeit often at the expense of Thunderbolt adapters) than any netbook out there, period.

(2) What you're paying for are those specs - including size and durability and screen quality - in that tiny form factor. Yes, you can buy 17" laptops for less, but they're huge and have a lower screen resolution - it's like watching animated mosaics. This thing almost feels like it should float.

(3) If you want a small computer that you can take anywhere for email, browsing, and most apps - but not more than one or two of those at once - this is a good deal (if you like Mac OS X). If your needs are other than that, this isn't a good deal.

(4) Mac OS X and Windows 7 basically do the same things and basically are similarly safe/vulnerable if you do even the most minor of things to protect them. They are different OSs, but the things most people do are basically the same on both. It's a waste of time to argue which one is better - it depends on your tastes and needs. Both are equivalently good, just somewhat different.

(5) You can buy systems that have similar specs for much less. You can also buy food with similar caloric values at McDonalds for much less than at a fine restaurant. Some people prefer fine dining. Some people prefer Big Macs. Neither is right or wrong. For the record, Windows systems of similar size and specs (when you look at all the specs) cost a similar amount.

Ask4Fish

However, my wife has owned this for the past year and it's worth every penny. I know there are netbooks that are much cheaper (I've had one), but they're not nearly as solid, light and well built as this. For my wife's purposes, which include web, email, Netflix, Hulu and general word processing, this computer is perfect. The lack of a DVD drive has been noticed, but it's not a show-stopper.

Ulli

I bought one three weeks ago on WOOT, love it and will buy today's for one of my very fuzzy, apple loving college aged kids. I, myself, now ride the iCloud with December woot's IMac, my iphone and the macbook air.

nobgobblin69 wrote:I was just telling hubby that if Apple comps were easy to use like the iphone i'd love to try one out. Hmmm is this worthwhile or still too much money? love the whole ieasy thing. Lot's of ihaters, i know but maybe they don't understand we, the technotards!

Mikedwilson63

Jerrycup wrote:It would be like saying it's a dealbreaker to buy a pair of shoes if they did not have optional crampons. I cannot remember the last time I connected anything to an ethernet port at home. If you have a fast WiFi link (N router), downloading large files or streaming video is simple.

For some, this is not the laptop to buy, but it performs very well, is easy to use, reliable, and free of the virus concerns using most versions of Windows.

Full specs and good comparisons here:
http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/macbook-air/specs/macbook-air-core-i5-1.6-11-mid-2011-specs.html

I bought the 4 GB RAM 128 GB SSD version last "black Friday" from the Apple Online Store, and it was $1,200, worth every penny.

Most users would be fine with the 2 GB and my 128 GB SSD is still less than half used.

This laptop is pretty small, but it is jewel-like in construction and operation. The Apple installed Safari web browser can zoom in to view a paragraph in any window, helps greatly.

Make note of the fact that MacBook Air does not have any drive. You can buy a very nice external from Apple for $79. Mine has not been used yet. Installation of software (even MS Office) can be done from web links with ease. Wireless links are the present and future.

Generally, this is the neatest little computer you will find. It boots in seconds, wakes from "sleep" almost instantly. I rarely shut it down.

If you want portability this is the ultimate. I can use it on the little seatback tray table in coach with ease. It is light, rugged, and slips into the smallest flap in a briefcase or backpack. When closed, it is the smaller than a manila folder.

I have had five Mac laptops, this is the best by far.

I have the 2010 MBA. While it doesn't have a drive, it has the ability to "borrow" a drive from another computer on your network wirelessly. There may be no need to buy that external drive.

I recommend the MBA highly. It's great, especially if you love great design.

showcaller

Mikedwilson63 wrote:Macs CAN run Windows, if you want them to; all you have to do is install it. Many people run both systems on their Macs.

The ultimate irony is that my graphics buddies (I produce corporate events.) tell me that Powerpoint actually runs better on a Mac running Windows than than it does as a native program on their PC's or as the Mac version on their Macs. Go figure!

zikzak

Macs may be more expensive than Windows, but it is worth noting that this class of computer - the ultrabook - is one where PC manufacturers have had a very hard time making ultrabooks that outsell the MacBook Air at or below the MBA's current price point. Therefore, it might not be so overpriced after all, if the market keeps choosing it over PC ultrabooks.

SneezyKevinA wrote:With so many 'refurbished' they must be crap computers. You never see this many PC's refurbished from one manufacturer in 6 months.

That's a nice try at trolling, except that you read it wrong. This one is not listed as "refurbished." It clearly says "new." Feel free to troll on the next refurb Mac on Woot, though...

It would be a toy if it really was a 64GB HD. But you read it wrong. It's a 64GB SSD, and as such the capacity is not unexpected. A little small for me, but not out of line for an SSD in an sub-$1000 laptop by anybody.

sethhill2

Looks like you can get the same model refurb from apple.com for $749. This is a good deal since you don't pay tax (at least i don't think you do) through woot. I would try to call Apple and see if they can match it though cause if you are a student they do discounts and just a FYI buy the AppleCare from B & H they have it for $190 and no tax (at least for us in California).

Still a good deal for anyone whose still using a PC. I have had this macbook for 6 years. How long have you had your PC?

nobgobblin69

Ask4Fish wrote:I'm not a hater and I'm not a Mac (I've used PCs since 1983...)

However, my wife has owned this for the past year and it's worth every penny. I know there are netbooks that are much cheaper (I've had one), but they're not nearly as solid, light and well built as this. For my wife's purposes, which include web, email, Netflix, Hulu and general word processing, this computer is perfect. The lack of a DVD drive has been noticed, but it's not a show-stopper.

Woot.com is operated by Woot Services LLC.
Products on Woot.com are sold by Woot, Inc., other than items on Wine.Woot which are sold by the seller specified on the product detail page.
Product narratives are for entertainment purposes and frequently employ
literary point of view;
the narratives do not express Woot's editorial opinion.
Aside from literary abuse, your use of this site also subjects you to Woot's
terms of use
and
privacy policy.
Woot may designate a user comment as a Quality Post, but that doesn't mean we agree with or guarantee anything said or linked to in that post.